A/N: Because this came up again, just to reiterate, this story is Kigo. And in what is actually new news, the rating on the story had changed to an M because the story is going in a different direction. And for reasons that will probably be clear when you reach the end, I hope everyone enjoys it.
Chapter 3 – Put Your Loving Arms around Me
Kim sighed, barely paying attention to whatever it was that Mr. Barkin was talking about. It had been a little over two weeks since the Homecoming dance and her life sucked at the moment. Ron was still avoiding her; she walked to school every morning expecting him to join her at any moment, but he never did, and as the days passed, Kim begrudgingly realized that this time he was not going to come back on his own. She had, although he had initially tried to assure her otherwise, hurt him badly, and there were some serious fences to be mended. She hoped they would be able to, because she had no desire to choose between her best friend and her girlfriend.
But then again, maybe she wouldn't have to choose if things kept going with Shego the way they had been going. They had only seen each other twice since the dance; once had been when Kim had dropped by to return the gown, and the second had been when Shego had stopped by the house to see if Kim wanted to go to the Middleton Wildlife Refuge to visit Rama and Anna. She had wanted to, of course, but had been unable to, which is why they now had a date to visit the spotted leopards this afternoon.
Today's date notwithstanding, it had been two pretty bumpy weeks for her and Shego. Shego had obviously been spooked by the sudden reappearance of her first and only girlfriend, and it was making her, for lack of a better comparison, act almost exactly like Ron. She only had contact with Kim when it was absolutely necessary and then for as little time as humanly possible. Stupid irony, Kim thought morosely. She was in the process of losing her best friend over a girlfriend she was also seeing slip away. The bell rang and Kim collected her thoughts as well as her books. Instinctively, she looked around for Ron, but when he saw her looking, he got a panic-stricken look on his face before bolting out the door. She sighed again and made her way out of the classroom.
She could hear whispers as she passed and while a part of her told her not to be paranoid, her rational mind knew they were talking about her. As it had turned out, no one had completely believed the Bonnie-spread rumor that she had dumped Ron for Shego until she had actually shown up at Homecoming with Shego as her date. Now that they knew for sure, the gossip mill had started in earnest, and for the past two weeks, these little snippets of whisper had been following her wherever she went. Most everyone had been great; the primary reaction from everyone had been shock, but when they had gotten over that, most had been accepting and encouraging. There had been others not as approving, though, and they had been, if not vocal, at least demonstrative about expressing their displeasure at Kim's choice of dating partner.
Like now for instance, Kim thought as she looked at a picture of a beaver about to be shot by a hunter that had been taped to her locker. She knew it had been placed there to offend, but for the life of her, she couldn't bring herself to be offended because in all honesty, it was pretty darn funny. The beaver had its hands up the air like a hold-up victim as the hunter - a woman, of course - pointed her rifle at it. Kim chuckled and opened her locker, placing her books inside before swinging the door back around. She carefully undid the tape on the front and released the picture before swinging the door back around again and taping it where the picture of Drakken used to be. She heard some incoherent grumbling in the background and knew that her amusement at the prank had not been appreciated by the people who had pulled it and who were obviously watching. She grabbed her cheerleading gear, knowing that if they were watching, she could probably catch them, but she decided not to bother. She would find out who they were sooner or later.
It turned out to be sooner as her "boys" as Shego still called them and who consisted of Vinnie, Junior and Big Mike, presented themselves at her locker holding a Middleton freshman by the scruff of his neck. "We found this guy hiding over by the water fountain, Cheerleader," Vinnie told her. "And he seemed to be upset that you weren't offended by the picture on your locker."
"Did he say he did it?" Kim asked, not willing to convict someone on conjecture.
"Not in so many words, Dude," Junior admitted.
"Then you should let him go," Kim told Big Mike, who was doing most of the holding.
Big Mike politely ignored her, hoisting the now terrified freshman up into the air. "Did you deface Miss Possible's locker?" he growled at the freshman who was now at his level. "And don't lie; I don't like liars."
"Y-yes, sir," the kid choked out.
"Thanks for being honest," Big Mike complemented him as he put the shaking boy down. He didn't let go of his neck, though and used this leverage to turn him towards Kim. "Now apologize," he ordered.
"I'm not going to apolo-" he eked out before Big Mike grip tightened and cut him off.
"Stop, Mike," Kim said, and Big Mike deferred to her, relaxing his grip. "Listen," Kim requested. "I don't know if you are doing this for attention or because you really don't like who I am dating and truthfully, I don't really care. But you should know that I not only have friends like the ones you have already met, I also have a very temperamental girlfriend who can shoot flames out of her hands that melt steel. I don't want to see anyone hurt, so it is in your best interest to just stop. If you don't, I can't guarantee you'll make it to the tenth grade."
The kid glared at her, but relaxed his face into a pout when the presence of Big Mike's hand around his neck made him realize she probably wasn't bluffing. "Fine, I won't do it anymore. It wasn't that fun anyway," he sniffed.
"Apology accepted," Kim decided. "Let him go, Big Mike." Big Mike did as he was asked and let him go. The kid didn't look at any of them, but instead took off down the hall.
"Thanks, guys," Kim told the three of them, as they watched the kid beat a hasty retreat down the hall.
"Anytime, Kim… Sure thing, Cheerleader… Totally, Dude," came out simultaneously.
She chuckled, and hugged each of them in turn. "I'll see you guys later," she said, closing her locker and heading down the hall
"Later," they echoed and went their own way down the opposite side of the hall.
Kim smiled as she entered the gym. She hadn't intended on liking those guys, but they had grown on her, and now there was a mutual admiration between the four of them. Still smiling, she entered the girls' locker room, put her duffle down on the bench and began to change, only to find the entirety of the cheerleading squad looking at her. "Um, may I help you?" she asked quizzically as she replaced her school shirt with her practice tank top.
Tara stepped forward nervously. "Um, well, we've been talking, Kim and um, we don't know how comfortable we are with you in the locker room," she blurted out.
Kim raised an eyebrow, but otherwise stayed calm. "O-okay," she answered slowly. "But I need somewhere to change for practice and…"
"We don't want you looking at us, you perv," Bonnie interrupted.
Again, Kim remained calm, figuring that since most of the squad had been stopping by at various times since Homecoming to show their support, most of this had to be Bonnie's doing. "Just a quick question," she said, having figured out her argument. "How many of you guys have boyfriends?" Everyone but Bonnie raised their hands. "So, from what you guys are answering, you all are pretty much unavailable," she concluded, and heads bobbed up and down in agreement. "So, then, the only one I could in good conscience be after would be Bonnie," she further hypothesized. Heads moved up and down once again. "Um, no, so not gonna happen," she stated dismissively and continued to change. The other cheerleaders looked at her, thought about it, and realized they were kind of being stupid about it. Doubts remained, though, and Kim could see it in their eyes. "Look guys, we have been a cheer squad for four years; I have had ample opportunity to look at you in your underpants and not once did I ever question my sexuality," she told them flatly.
"Liar," Bonnie challenged. "I have seen you look up my skirt while we are doing pyramids."
"No, you haven't Bonnie," Kim said evenly. "I am always the top of the pyramid so it is you who would have to be doing the looking."
Bonnie turned beet red and the other girls snickered because Kim was right. Bonnie marched out in a huff, and Tara stepped forward once again, this time to apologize. "Sorry, Kim," she said. "We were being kinda stupid."
"It's all right," Kim assured her. "I know not everyone is okay with me."
"But we are and we are sorry that we let Bonnie convince us we weren't," she apologized, and the other girls nodded in agreement.
"It's okay," Kim said with a smile. "So, is it time to practice?" she said brightly, completely changing the subject to banish the awkward. Everyone else smiled back and heads nodded again. "Cool, let's get to it then."
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
The Mansion's front doorbell rang, and Shego, who had been resting her eyes on the couch upstairs, was jolted awake. She glanced at the clock and raised an eyebrow; it was too early for Kimmie to be showing up because she should have been in the middle of cheerleading practice. Curious but mostly annoyed, Shego lifted herself off the couch and thudded downstairs. Just as she got to the front door, the doorbell rang again. "Yeah, yeah," she groused before stupidly opening the door without looking through the eyehole.
"Hey Sheila," Nina said nonchalantly as she stood on Shego's front porch.
Shego looked at her, a thousand different thoughts running through her head at once. Negative ones generally came to the surface first for Shego, though, and so it was bitterness and general dislike that showed up first and made her speak. "What the hell are you doing on my porch, Nina?" she asked sourly.
"I wanted to talk, Sheila," Nina said. "Can I come in?"
"First thing, I go by Shego now," Shego said curtly. "Second thing, while I am sure you do have the physical ability necessary to enter my door, no, you may not come in. I don't want to talk to you; I don't want to have anything to do with you. In fact, you are lucky that Kim has mellowed me out or you might not be leaving of your own volition."
"Still have a temper, I see," Nina observed.
"Yeah, I do; now piss off," Shego requested, shutting the door. She turned to go upstairs, growling when she heard the doorbell ring again. "I thought I told you to go away," she said when she found Nina still at her door.
"Look, um, Shego, I just want to talk," Nina said, trying to be reassuring. "It's just that I am living permanently in Middleton now and there is a chance that we might meet up or I might be teaching your girlfriend and I don't want either situation to be awkward because of what's happened between us."
"It's not gonna be awkward because I am going to avoid you like the plague," Shego stated.
"But Kim can't," Nina pointed out, pulling out what she figured to be her trump card.
"And Kim's more likely to kick your ass than I am," Shego mused, not wanting Kim to get in trouble because of whatever crap was between her and Nina. "All right, fine; we'll talk," Shego said gruffly, getting out of the way so Nina could come in.
Nina took in the sights as she came into the living room. "This is a very nice place," she complimented Shego. "I can see why you like it, but how did you end up living in Middleton? I always thought you would be a big city type of woman."
"I inherited the house, and it was where it was," Shego said simply.
"You had relatives that lived in a dinky town like Middleton?" Nina said incredulously. "I thought your family was far too sophisticated for that."
Shego shrugged. "One of the sophisticates fell in love," she said. "And her girl lived here. So here is where she came."
"Hm," Nina said, noting the blatant gender-biased pronoun use. "So why did you decide to take possession?"
Shego smirked. "My girl lived here and here is where I came," she stated matter-of-factly.
Nina didn't comment on that, but instead turned toward the front room. "Do you think we could have a seat?" she asked.
"Eh, sure, why not," Shego commented, leading the way and plunking herself on the couch. Nina took a chair and they stared at one another for a while as Shego lacked the motivation to speak and Nina didn't know how to begin.
"So I bet you are wondering why I am here," she began.
"Not really," Shego answered. "Truthfully, I don't really care. And besides, you gave me some bullshit line about wanting to clear the air to get in here, so I figure it is something along those lines."
"I do want to clear the air," Nina said firmly. She hesitated, deciding which way she wanted to continue. "I didn't accidentally end up in Middleton, Sheila…Shego," she admitted. "It took a while after you were gone, but I realized that I had made a big mistake when I broke up with you. When word started getting around that you were here, I decided to finally put my child development degree to use and move here to be with you." Shego could see where this was going and she didn't like it, but before she could do anything, Nina took a deep breath and continued. "I'm still in love with you, Shego and I am here to win you back," she declared.
Shego crossed her arms and looked at her, her brow contracting as she convinced herself that she had heard what she thought she had heard. When she internally confirmed it, the brow unclenched but the arms remained crossed. "You have to be out of your fucking mind," she concluded.
Amazingly, Nina didn't take offense, but instead tried to explain what would prompt her to make such a declaration. "Please, just listen to me before you tell me to get lost," she begged. "I didn't know who I was in high school and it took me a while to figure it out; it was only after I figured it out that I realized how stupid I had been. I know I broke your heart and you don't know how sorry I am for that, but please give me another chance. I promise you that I won't let you down again."
Shego organized her thoughts as she prepared to answer. "You didn't just break my heart," she said quietly. "You broke it, stomped on it and then ran away."
"I didn't run away," Nina protested. "I graduated."
"Yes, you graduated, but you broke up with me just a month before you did; you knew you were a short-timer and you knew you could get away," Shego pointed out. "And then you left me to face everything, the whispers, the accusations, and the social ostracization, all by myself for the next three years."
"I was a senior and you were only a freshman; you can't put the blame for our age difference on me," Nina argued.
"No, I can't, but I can blame you for never coming back," Shego countered. "I can also blame you for telling everyone that I seduced you into being gay, even though I don't remember being the one that started the relationship." Nina didn't answer; she knew she had no answer to give. Shego inhaled deeply and calmly, getting her anger back under control. "There would have been a time that I might have cared that you still loved me. But now, I have someone who I know cares very deeply for me and who is proud enough of me to parade me in front of her entire school at Homecoming. That's the type of person that I want to be with, not the type that puts the blame on me and then runs away."
"She's only a teenager, She…go," Nina said. "She doesn't know what she wants yet. How can you have so much faith in her when you have no faith in me?"
"Well, for starters, she hasn't broken my heart," Shego answered dourly. Then she cracked a small grin. "And she's a Possible; Possible women are damn tenacious."
"I hope she lives up to your expectations," Nina said as she got up to go.
"She will," Shego said confidently.
Nina sat down beside Shego on the couch having one more thing to say before she left. "I know you still remember the good things about us, Sheila, even though you pretend to only remember the bad ones," she said softly, and drew Shego in for a kiss before Shego had time to counter her. By the way it responded, Shego's body apparently had no problem remembering the good times, but her mind still did, and so put a halt to the proceedings before they could get started.
"You need to leave now, Nina," Shego said, pulling away and jumping off the couch.
"Of course," Nina replied smugly, having seen a crack in Shego's armor that she thought she could exploit. "Tell Kim I said 'hi'." Shego didn't answer, but held the door for her as she sauntered out.
Kim watched as Nina sauntered out the Mansion's front door. Jealousy flared up instantaneously, and Kim had to crack a smile when she remembered Aunt Mim's words on the subject. She paused on the sidewalk, cautiously watching Nina to see where Nina was going. Nina didn't seem to know, so just to avoid any awkweird confrontations, Kim climbed up the nearest tree and hid in its branches so Nina could look in any direction and not see her. Nina at last decided to turn right out of the front walk, and Kim made sure she was completely out of sight before jumping down. She walked up to the Mansion and rang the bell, her pique making her feel disinclined to use her keys. Shego answered the door, and Kim could tell from the look on her face that Shego already knew she had been busted.
"I didn't invite her over, I swear, Princess," Shego said hastily as they walked in, not liking the look that Kim was giving her.
"Then why was she over here?" Kim asked, her clipped tone betraying her annoyance as they climbed the stairs to the second floor.
"She came to tell me she is still in love with me and she is gunning to get me back," Shego answered truthfully.
An answer like that had to be truthful, Kim decided, even if it was the last thing she wanted to hear. "And what did you tell her?" Kim asked hesitantly.
"I told her she was out of her fucking mind," Shego replied.
"Really?" Kim questioned, unabashedly pleased.
"Really," Shego confirmed, and looking into her eyes to judge her veracity, Kim knew she was telling the truth. Kim could also see fatigue in those eyes and she didn't like it.
"Why do you look so bad, Shego?" Kim asked indelicately as she sat on the couch in the parlor.
Shego sat down on the couch beside her. "Tactless, yet rude," she quipped, quoting one of her favorite cartoons.
"I know," Kim admitted. "But you look, I don't know, haggard. What's up?"
"I've been kind of having some bad dreams lately," Shego confessed, unable to lie to those pouty green eyes. "And it's making me not want to sleep."
"Shego!" Kim chided. "I told you to call me something was bugging you."
"I know," Shego sighed. "But I thought I could handle them and they would go away."
"But they haven't," Kim clarified, and Shego shook her head. "What are they about?" Kim asked, figuring if she knew then she might be able to help.
Shego thought about telling her and then thought better of it. "I'd rather not say," she answered honestly.
Kim could tell she was being honest, and if Shego felt that strongly about it, Kim didn't want to press her. So, she quickly came up with another solution. "Okay, Junior, I'll cut a deal with you," Kim offered. "You don't have to tell me about your dreams, but in exchange, you have to lie down on this couch and take a nap."
"But we are supposed to visit Rama and Anna," Shego protested. "And as I believe I've mentioned, I'm trying to avoid sleep."
"I know that," Kim replied. "But I'm not going anywhere, and if you start to dream, I'll wake you up."
Shego was tempted, but the specter of her dreams made her wary. Kim saw the indecision and as was typical for her bossy personality, she made the decision for her. She wrapped her arms around Shego and drew her back while at the same she drew herself back to rest in crook of the couch arm. The end result had Shego lying on the couch with her head in Kim's lap.
"I don't wanna fall asleep, Pumpkin," Shego protested again, but the horizontal position, Kim's warm presence, and Kim's fingers running through her hair made resisting seem really stupid. So she gave in, and within a few minutes she was fast asleep. Kim smiled and continued to arrange the long, silky, blackish-green locks while she gently massaged Shego's scalp.
It was the first part of the dream that sucked her in, Shego realized as she stood at the bottom of the stairs in her green bathrobe yet again. She cherished the first part of the dream, the waking up in bed with Kim's arms wrapped around her, the only getting out of bed to get their daughter, and the playful family atmosphere and chatting that surrounded them before that damn doorbell rang. Experiencing that made the second part almost worth it, and it kept her dreaming when she knew she should wake up.
"Run, sweetie," she uttered sub vocally as Kim came into view at the top of the stairs with Mimmie in her baby sling.
Somehow, amazingly, Kim heard her. "I told you, Shego; I am not going anywhere," Kim reminded her, coming down the stairs instead of disappearing into a secret passage like she was supposed to.
"But they are going to arrest you, too, Princess," Shego told her, despair and panic beginning to rise as it usually did at this point in the dream. "And if they arrest you, they will take Mimmie away and put her into foster care."
Kim paused. "I am not leaving, Shego," she repeated. "And there is no way they are going to touch our daughter," she said firmly, punctuating her words with a glare aimed at the Lieutenant. "I haven't seen a warrant for my arrest, and even if one is presented, I have not been read my rights, nor have I been allowed to speak with my lawyer, all of which should delay the proceedings enough for child services to get here before we would have to hand her over to the police," Kim explained.
"How will child services help?" Shego asked, beginning to see hope.
"They will give her to her closest relatives that are willing to care for her. That would be my parents," Kim said.
Shego felt despair lifting slightly. "They'll give her to Mom and Dad?" she clarified hopefully.
"Yes, they will give her to Mom and Dad,' Kim confirmed. "And she will be loved, protected and most likely spoiled rotten while we get the whole mess straightened out."
Shego looked at Kim and smiled at her, her confidence returning at both her wife's steadfast refusal to leave and her razor-sharp situational assessments. She shook off the Lieutenant's grip temporarily to put her arms around Kim before she got hauled off. "I really don't know what I did to deserve you," she said, and Kim's eyes warmed into an affectionate gaze. "Thank you. I love you," she concluded, kissing Kim on the head before the Lieutenant roughly grabbed her and headed her towards the car. It was strange; it was usually at this point in the dream that she was crying and as she was crying, the scene faded into her dorm room. But this time, she wasn't crying and the dream faded away into nothing but blackness and deep dreamless sleep.
Kim gave a little sigh of relief as Shego's breathing deepened and she sank into a deeper sleep. If what she had just heard had been an example of what Shego had been dreaming, it was easy to see why Shego was having trouble sleeping. When the dream had started, Shego had tightened her grip on Kim's legs but had said nothing. It was only when the dream took what Kim assumed was a downturn that Shego had started talking in her sleep, and from Shego's side of the conversation, a few things had come to light.
First, she and Shego were married, and perhaps more importantly, they apparently had a child named Mimmie. Second, both she and Shego were in trouble and Shego's solution was for her to run away, taking the baby with her. She didn't know if Shego could hear her, but she had answered out loud when Shego had told her to run and had answered with an emphatic "no", prompting the comment about foster care. This let Kim know that Shego was hearing her and she paused as she came up with something to answer. She reiterated her refusal to leave and then came up with some spur-of-the-moment explanation of why their daughter would be spared foster care. She wasn't sure if she was right, but it didn't matter, because when Shego heard that Mimmie would go to Kim's parents, everything suddenly became all right. "I don't know what I did to deserve you," she had said, and that had been followed by a "Thank you" and an "I love you" before Shego had fallen into a deeper sleep.
Kim resumed her scalp massage, thinking. Shego was dreaming of marriage and children and admitting that she loved Kim, although admittedly the latter had also been part of the dream. That was a far cry from "we'll wait and see" and an even further cry from the standoffish attitude that Shego had been sporting for the last week. But, Kim reasoned, if Shego was so troubled about the prospect of Kim leaving her that she was dreaming about it, maybe she was keeping Kim at arms' length as not to be hurt if she did happen to leave. That seemed reasonable, and when Shego awoke, Kim decided that was the topic that she was going to broach as carefully as she could.
Done with thinking for a while, Kim stopped her massage long enough to stretch and she realized she was kind of uncomfortable in the position she was in. She spotted an extra pillow, and using the dexterity that had served her so well as both a cheerleader and a teen heroine, she replaced her lap with the pillow without disturbing Shego. She then lay down beside Shego and curled herself around her, propping herself on the pillow so she could keep an eye on her slumbering girlfriend.
Shego floated about in the hazy space between awake and asleep and a line from a throwaway song heard long ago kept taking the grand circle turn of her brain. "And when I dream of the fear that you're leaving, and I reach out, well baby then you put your loving arms around me and it feels like shelter…" She wanted to ponder its deeper meaning, kinda, but before she was able, she started to wake up more fully and the time to ponder was lost. As she woke up, she could feel that her head was no longer in Kim's lap because whatever she was laying on was no longer generating any heat of its own. She started to get disappointed that Kim had not kept her promise, but realized she was being stupid when it became clear that the surface she as leaning on was giving off heat and breathing rhythmically in and out. She opened her eyes to find Kim's sparkling ones looking back at her.
"Feeling better?" Kim asked with a smile.
"Much," Shego confirmed. Kim smiled wider and leaned down to kiss Shego. They parted, and Shego returned Kim's smile. "You are something else, Pink," she said affectionately.
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Kim teased.
"It is a very good thing," Shego replied, still smiling. She reached a hand up to caress Kim's cheek. "Thanks for sticking around, Princess," she said softly, so softly that Kim could barely hear her.
"I promised I would, Shego," Kim reminded her, unconsciously leaning into the caress. Shego chuckled and used her hand to guide Kim's lips to her own.
Something happened when they kissed, and the both of them felt it. They had kissed here and there as their relationship had progressed, but they had never managed to match the intensity of their first kiss, the one they had shared on the beach in Mexico. Which wasn't to say that they were any less attracted to one another, but there were always too many distractions, inappropriate locations, too many people and other intangibles that made anything more than kissing impossible. Now, however, it was just the two of them, all alone in a haunted mansion except for ghosts that were far too proper to be intrusive when the situation clearly dictated the opposite. This perfect location at last gave them permission to feel the full spectrum of what they felt for each other, not just the love that was obviously growing between them, but also the desire and attraction that had predicated the love.
Kim, acting purely on impulse and not a bit on thought, slipped out from beside Shego on the couch and came to rest on top of her, her thighs straddling Shego's waist, and, showing a flexibility that even Shego didn't know she had, she did it all without breaking their kiss. Beneath her, Shego, a bit startled by the sudden movement, broke away briefly, but swiftly corrected that mistake by raising herself off the couch and recapturing Kim's lips, using her hands to gently cup Kim's face and draw Kim down with her back to the couch. Kim willingly followed, causing her whole upper body to be meshed with Shego's.
Kim's lips tasted as sweet as ever, but Shego wanted more, and so opened her mouth to entice Kim to do the same. Her subtle prompt was clearly understood by Kim and Kim followed suit, her own mouth parting to allow Shego access. Their kiss deepened and though at first tentative, their gentle explorations grew bolder, and as their mouths grew more familiar with each other, their fingers and bodies longed to do the same. Quite of their own accord, Kim's nimble fingers reached for the front of Shego 's shirt and proceeded to unfasten, one by one, every button on the green, long-sleeved, button-down blouse.
Her fingers were forced to stop when they reached the waist of Shego's black jeans because the remainder of her shirt had been tucked in and was thus inaccessible. Not to be dissuaded, her fingers liberated the shirt by unfastening the button on Shego's pants and her hands pulled it free, allowing her fingers to access and unbutton the remaining buttons. Pale green skin was revealed and her fingers now amused themselves by exploring its soft surface.
Shego inhaled sharply as Kim's fingertips danced across her skin. She was peripherally aware that Kim had much more access to her than she had to Kim, and her competitive nature refused to stand for such an inequality. She put her arms around Kim, drawing her closer, but then sat up suddenly, causing them both to be upright. Kim ended up sitting in her lap, and Shego moved her hands to Kim's waist and then to her thighs, gently guiding Kim's legs so that they wrapped around her. After that had been accomplished, her hands drifted to the more tantalizing area of Kim's upper body, slipping beneath her tank top to explore and perhaps to liberate.
Except she soon discovered no liberation was necessary. The tank top had support of its own, so Kim had no undergarment underneath it; all Shego had to do was to divest her of it and Kim would be laid bare for her to explore. That thought made her breath catch from sheer desire as well as from sheer terror. Was she ready? More importantly, was Kim ready? She acted mature, but Kimmie was so young, was she really? Granted, Kimmie's fingers moving steadily northward on a liberation offensive of their own would indicate she was quite okay with things, but Shego hesitated.
Kim could feel the hesitation and it made her hands pause briefly so she could she could lean back and get a better look at Shego. "What's wrong?" she asked, hoping she wasn't doing anything wrong.
Shego hesitated and then answered truthfully, an annoying habit she had picked up ever since she had been associated with Kim. "I never want to give you anything to hate me for," she replied.
Kim kissed her. "At this point, I don't think I could ever hate you," she said softly. "And I would never hate you for this." She still saw brief indecision on Shego's face and her contempt for Nina grew even deeper. It had to have taken a lot to make a strong person like Shego this afraid of something, and Kim was beginning to loathe Nina for it.
Shego saw the love, desire and affection in Kim's face and she mentally berated herself. "Quit being so fucking neurotic," she told herself, finally annoyed at herself for her hesitation. "Take the incredible gift you are being offered." She wrapped her arms around Kim, intent on lowering her to the couch and removing that suddenly meddling tank top.
"Beep, Beep, Be-beep!"
Shego sighed. "You have to be fucking kidding me," she muttered, as she fell back onto the couch.
Kim sighed too, having seen that Shego was over her hesitation. But, she answered it, knowing that there might be some global emergency that Team Possible might have to deal with. "Hey Wade," she said as she flipped it on.
"Hey Kim," Wade replied cheerfully. He looked at her more closely. "Hey you okay, Kim? You look a little flushed."
"I'm fine," Kim said shortly. "What's the sitch?"
"Your mom called looking for you," Wade said. "She hasn't been able to find you and she was worried sick." Shego glanced at the clock and was surprised when it read 9:45PM. No wonder Mrs. Dr. P was looking for Kimmie. She dug into her pocket and produced her cell phone for Kimmie to call home with. Because the kimmunicators and her cell service allowed her access to whomever she wanted to call, she had never bothered to reactivate the land line.
"All right, Wade, I'll give her a call," Kim assured him. "Bye," she said, signing off.
"Here you go, Pumpkin," Shego said, handing Kim the phone before she could even ask for it.
"Thanks, Junior," Kim said apologetically. She dialed home and her mother answered instantly. "Hey Mom," she said.
Shego couldn't hear Mrs. Dr. P of course, but she could get the gist of the conversation just by hearing Kimmie's side. "I was over at Shego's," obviously went with "Where in the hell have you been," "We were going to spend time with Rama and Anna," was Kim's half-truthful response to "What were you doing over there," and "We lost track of time," was the answer for "Why in the hell did it take so long?" Of course, Shego doubted that Mrs. Dr. P used those exact words, but it was close enough.
"I know I missed brain loaf; I'm sorry," Kim apologized and looked sheepish when Shego looked at her questioningly.
"Brain loaf?" Shego mouthed.
Kim nodded, still listening to her fuming mother. "All right, Mom," she sighed, knowing she was in deep trouble. "I'll be right home." She hung up the phone and handed it back to Shego. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but I have to go home."
"I figured," Shego said wryly, Mrs. Dr. P's "You had better get home right now, young lady!" having been loud enough for her to hear. "It's okay. Listen, I know you got yourself in trouble by staying with me this afternoon, but thanks, I really needed it."
"I know; that's why I stayed," Kim said smugly. She leaned down and kissed Shego, her hands zeroing in on Shego's still bare midriff. "I'll see you later," she promised after they had parted slightly breathless. She reluctantly got up off the couch, left the parlor and headed downstairs. Shego heard the front door slam and sighed. If Kim wasn't already probably grounded, she would have tried to convince her to stay. Her eyebrow quirked as she contemplated a late-night visit to Kim's room, but the last thing she wanted to do was get busted by Kim's parents, so as much as she didn't want to, she was sleeping alone tonight.
Kim hurriedly walked home, happy in spite of being in trouble with her Mom. She knew how to proceed now; between Shego's sleep talking and their other activities, she knew how Shego felt about her, and that gave her a great deal of confidence. This wasn't a fling for either of them; it was serious, and now that she knew that, she had to go talk to Ron. She knew it wasn't going to be pleasant, but she wasn't willing to sacrifice either her best friend or her girlfriend for the other and it had to be straightened out.